Extra! Extra! Bonus edition of BTS Pic of the Day with your chance to win Rinzler's THE MAKING OF THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK!

Ahoy, squirts! Quint here with a special edition of BtSPotD!
You’re gonna get two goodies for the price of one! Not only do you get a Bonus BTS pic today, but you North American readers will have a shot at winning the brilliant and thorough Making of The Empire Strikes Back:

Not only is that book awesome, it’s expensive. As someone who has had the great fortune of flipping through it, I can tell ya’ it’s worth every penny (and if you needed more validation, be sure to read Merrick’s review of the book).
But screw that noise. Why pay for it when you can win it? Random House has given me two copies to give away to a couple of North American BtSPotD readers. Why North America only? Sorry rest of the world, but Random House isn’t distributing outside of North America, so that means no contests for you.
In order to win one of these two books (there was talk early on of them being autographed by author JW Rinzler, but I’m not sure if that materialized) you need to email me at quint@aintitcool.com with your mailing address (to be used only in the event you win the contest) and a Behind the Scenes photo submission. Use the subject line BTS submission if you please. That’ll help me keep tabs on what comes in.
Any behind the scenes still, but the rarer, the more epic or the more intimate/candid the better. If you scan anything from a publication, please include the magazine or book you took the image from.
You have between now and next Wednesday, October 20th, at 11:59pm CST. I’ll pick my favorite two submissions. Keep in mind I’ve been collecting these images for a few months and have quite a large file folder, so if your awesome photo doesn’t get picked it’s because it’s one I’ve already seen.
So you know what you gots to do to win one of these awesome books. Now I want to share a picture with you sent along by the publisher. This image does indeed pop up in Rinzler’s book, but it’s a weird one in that it can count as two BTS images in one.
The photo has Jim Henson visiting the Empire offices to show collaborator Frank Oz a prototype of the Skesis puppet for their later film THE DARK CRYSTAL. You can see Empire director Irvin Kershner standing next to Frank Oz. Also, look closely to the bottom of the pic to see prototype Gelfling heads!
You know what makes this photo amazing to me? The look on Oz’s face. He looks purely happy, like a child at Christmas… In other words, I imagine that would have been the look on my face if I were ever lucky enough to see Jim Henson bring a puppet to life live and in the flesh.
Click the below image for the higher res version!

If you have a pic you think should be included email me. I’m looking for the iconic, the rare or the just plain cool behind the scenes shots to feature here.
Good luck to those who enter the contest! I’ll post the winners when I pick ‘em!
Look for the official BTS pic to hit later today!
-Quint
quint@aintitcool.com
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Why is everything so 'brown'?!<p>
All the colours seemed to be so autumnal at one stage in the early 80's.<p>
Look at this photo; effectively, apart from the guy in the dark blue, and the cloth attached to the skeksis' head (but even these are dark, muted colours)everything is brown! the clothes, the wallpaper...<p>
Brown.

See the box in the background, top left? Must be from all those cookie jars Kurtz ordered for cast and crew, according to the story he told. And he had a lot left over, which years later were worth a ridiculous amount as rare collectibles.

I agree. on the morning of henson's death was announced officially fox news sent two reporters down to the henson hq in new york and positioned them outside the door to get a respone. what fucking scummy thing to do. if you want to hear a worse example. in the 1980s there was no bigger show on tv than Russell harty. Harty was quite young when he died suddenly. The red top took over the top floor of the office block which was across the road from the hospital where harty was dying after under going open heart surgery. they could see right into his private room which was on the top floor of the hospital. as family members were goign in the the press pack were getting on to the hospital and hassling his family for news.

I remember his cameo in American Werewolf in London, when he's trying to calm David down in the hospital,"Mr. Kessler! Mr.Kessler, please!" and I couldn't get over how much he sounded like Bert. Yeah, the other guy is Stuart Freeborn, but not sure who far right guy is. And is that Star Wars wallpaper on the...well, the wall in back?

I just looked up the information and Fox News Channel didn't even exist, until six years after Jim Henson died; so I'm thinking they probably didn't send any reporters anywhere, on the day Mr. Henson passed away.

The other 50% of Jim Henson's legacy, he's Bert, Animal and Mrs. Piggy of the Muppets among others, he's YODA. And not only that, he's one of the best comedy directors in the History of Cinema: Little Shop of Horrors, In & Out, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, What about Bob?, Housesitter, Bowfinger, Dead at a funeral (the original, not the african-american one)... the guy IS really a genius on par with Henson.

Caroline Munro, Farah Fawcett, Suzanne Summers, Barbara Bach, Cherie Currie, Susan Anton, Adrienne Barbeau... see they didn't have all the plastic surgery types yet so they just had to come that way. There were plenty of hot people in the 70's for sure.

No one gave a shit and everyone got laid, fuck the haters. Bo Derek in "10" indeed.
Ps someone please scan this book so I don't have to buy it and give money to Luca$. Unless my money is going to Frank Oz's spirit, Ken Colley, Julian Glover, and Ridley Scott, I'll never purchase it

The wallpaper on the back wall is Star Wars wallpaper that millions of kids had on their walls in the late 70's, myself included. It took me over 20 years to track down a roll of this and finally ebay and a geek in Milwaukee allowed me to own it again. Funny that they had it up in their office.

By that line of reasoning, Lucas could not have been the brains behind the first Star Wars film, because what has he done since - the second trilogy? Now do you see how stupid your argument is?
<p>
McCartney couldn't have been a driving force behind the Beatles because what has he done since on that level? See what I mean?
<p>
At least some people have ONE peak, moment of genius/greatness or clarity. Whatever Lucas may be now, he had three. Star Wars, Indy and American Graffiti. And no matter what he turns out now or in the future, that will always be true. In that light, your Kirshner/Kurtz argument is stunningly stupid. Stop being disingenuous, anyone who knows anything about Empire knows it's the thorn in GL's side and self-proclaimed least favourite. Not to mention the pertinent irony of Kirsh being Lucas' teacher which is why he got the job in the first place. But hang in there mate, one day your moment of lucidity will arrive...

There's a lovely double page spread matte painting of the Falcon said to have been used as part of the Rebel Hanger background on Hoth. It's actually from RotJ when Lando and Han are chatting before they set off on their missions. Hoth didn't need a matte of the Falcon as they had the (almost) full size mock up. They used matte's in combination with the setpiece for the long shots.
Great book, but screw you Lucas.

You know, Google and IMDB are your friend. You could have probably found out he's a brilliant production designer on the same time it took you to type that! Yes, that's quite a coiff. Very 50s Britain.